Mastodon

News

Meet the Board of Justice Journeymakers: Our New Identity and Vision for 2024

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year and welcome to 2024! We are Journey to Diversity Workplaces, a non-profit organization that advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety in the workplace. We believe that everyone deserves to work in an environment where they feel valued, respected, and empowered.

As we enter a new year, we are excited to share with you some changes that reflect our vision and mission. Effective 1 January 2024, we have renamed our Board of Directors to the Board of Justice Journeymakers, to emphasize our commitment to social justice and our role as agents of change. We have also updated our titles, including mine, to recognize the importance of democracy and to align with the Canadian political system. You can find the list of our board members, along with our bylaws, policies, and codes, under the new Governance tab on our website.

You can support us by sharing our content on your social media platforms, subscribing to our newsletter, donating to our cause, becoming a member, or partnering with us. We produce a volunteer-run podcast called Diversity on Air and a blog called Voices of our Nation, where we showcase diverse voices and perspectives on various topics related to the workplace.

We are currently accepting applications for the Board. If you have a few hours per month to volunteer, please consider joining our ranks and making a real difference in a small non-profit.

Thank you for your continued interest and support. We look forward to connecting with you and hearing your feedback.

Sincerely,

Leland Harper, Speaker
Board of Justice Jourenymakers
Journey to Diversity Workplaces

This article was written by J2DW Speaker Dr. Leland Harper.

Diversity Behind the Scenes of Film and Television

When I first watched Mindy Kaling’s hit show ‘Never Have I Ever…’ or Marvel’s Disney+ series ‘Ms. Marvel’, I finally understood what it meant to be visible. Similarly, the implications of Dees Rees’s 2011 film, ‘Pariah,’ ring true for the young, Black, queer women in our society and unearth an avenue for more nuanced discussions regarding race, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. Widely praised and critically acclaimed films such as ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’ by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and ‘The Woman King’ by Gina Prince-Bythewood, are all glimpses into the rich and complex stories of people grappling with the weight of their multifaceted identities.

Continue reading “Diversity Behind the Scenes of Film and Television”

12 Books for 2024 Challenge

A few friends of mine have a challenge of reading a new book each month, so I tried to find 12 that I could recommend to our readers. These were curated from finds at the Barrie Public Library, the Innisfil ideaLab & Library, and Goodreads.

I have not read all of these, so I cannot guarantee the quality.

Happy reading. These links are affiliate links, and J2DW may get a small commission for each sale.

Continue reading “12 Books for 2024 Challenge”

Celebrating 10 Years of Journey to Diversity Workplaces

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Journey to Diversity Workplaces (J2DW), a non-profit organization that aims to create a better work environment for everyone. We believe that diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety are not only moral imperatives but also strategic advantages that foster creativity, innovation, and connectedness. We are not just an organization but a movement.

Continue reading “Celebrating 10 Years of Journey to Diversity Workplaces”

Volunteer for Journey to Diversity Workplaces!

Are you passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety in the workplace? Do you want to join a movement that respects differences ethically, morally, and legally? If yes, then we have an opportunity for you!

Journey to Diversity Workplaces is a non-profit organization that aims to reform the workplace and introduce progressive policies that promote harmony and growth. We are looking for volunteers who can help us with our mission and vision.

We are currently recruiting for the following positions: Continue reading “Volunteer for Journey to Diversity Workplaces!”

The Ultimate Guide to Celebrating the Holidays with Neurodivergent Colleagues (And Why You Should Care)

As the bright lights roll in and the mist of joy flutters in the air, there comes a chirp in your step and excitement for the well-deserved break waiting for you ahead. For many, the holidays are a time to get away from the hectic frames of everyday life and escape to a short-lived utopia. For others, this is a time to catch up on the moments of life they missed out on, pick up a hobby they’ve been meaning to try, or simply be present and attentive in their moments with family. A season as such hopes to invoke feelings of gratitude, peace, joy, and love for all that we have, but for some, this reality might be difficult to maintain.

Walking into work in December, most neurodivergent people are met with bright, flickering holiday decorations, maybe gentle music in the background, loud colours and decorations, and bold scents of the holiday season. The attributes that help define the holiday season for many neurotypical people can simultaneously disturb the experience of those with neurodivergence.

Things such as sensory overload– which includes sensory food aversions regarding taste, texture, and smell–, social anxiety, a sense of dread and overwhelming feelings, overstimulation, and anxiety surrounding perfectionism and social acceptance, are likely to make an appearance (Neurodiversity in the workplace, 2022). Granted, this is not to say that every neurodivergent person experiences neurodivergence in the same manner. Still, many of these feelings have been common for a significant number of people under this category.

I can already sense the fear and panic through the screen as readers probably shuffle in their seats, sick with anxiety or fear, that I will suggest completely shutting down holiday celebrations in the workplace. But not to worry, it’s not always a one-or-the-other situation; compromises can always be made, and it is not a jarring, uncomfortable act to be more equitable and accommodating to others in a shared environment.

For instance, when setting up holiday decorations, consider the perspectives of your fellow neurodivergent colleagues and decorate in accordance with their limits as well. Flickering lights can be replaced with soft lights that don’t flicker, and things with strong scents can be put in a secluded area rather than the main common room (Doyle, 2020). Another main point is the privilege of a choice. Showing people that they have autonomy over their holiday experience can take off a great deal of anxiety, pressure, and urgency that follows this period of time. Giving them the freedom to eat other foods if they want, with respect to their sensory issues, or creating a no-pressure, low-stakes gift exchange event that is not mandatory or taken extremely seriously, are some ways to make this holiday season a more joyful time for all (Doyle, 2020).

In the end, however, a direct conversation is always the best way to ensure you are truly meeting the needs of others. Asking them about ways you can best support them during this season, getting educated on any accommodations that other companies have used, and being perceptive of the social norms that dictate this month are good starting points. The month of December can be a daunting time for many, so it is important for employers and employees to be kind, compassionate, and open-minded so everyone can soak in the joys of this festive month.

Reference

Doyle, N. (2020, December 18). A neuroinclusive Christmas. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/drnancydoyle/2020/12/18/a-neuroinclusive-christmas/?sh=719ee0673c99
Neurodiversity in the workplace: The Next Frontier in the world of work. The Adecco Group. (2022, August 31). https://www.adeccogroup.com/future-of-work/latest-insights/neurodiversity-in-the-workplace-the-next-frontier-in-the-world-of-work/

This article was written by summer student Ilesha Prabhudesai. This article was funded by the Government of Canada,

Celebrating 10 Years

J2DW Celebrates 10 Years of Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Safety in the Workplace

Celebrating 10 Years of J2DW’s Vision and Mission for a Better Workplace

 

For Immediate Release

Barrie, Ontario, December 3, 2023 – Journey to Diversity Workplaces (J2DW), a non-profit organization that advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety in the workplace, is celebrating our 10th anniversary this month. Founded in December 2013 by a group of passionate individuals who wanted to reform the workplace and introduce progressive policies that promote harmony and growth, J2DW has grown into a network of members, partners, and supporters who share our vision and mission.

J2DW believes that the workplace should be a place where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered. It believes that diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety are not only moral imperatives but also strategic advantages that foster creativity, innovation, and connectedness. J2DW is not just an organization but a movement that aims to transform the workplace culture and environment for the better.

Over the past decade, J2DW has been involved in various initiatives and activities that support our goals and objectives. Some of these include:

    • Producing a volunteer-run podcast called Diversity on Air, which interviews experts, leaders, and activists who share their insights and experiences on diversity, equity, inclusion, and safety.
    • Publishing a blog called Voices of our Nation, featuring articles contributed by volunteers and summer students who write about their opinions, stories, and research on workplace issues.
    • Hosted amazing speakers such as Paralympic athlete Zak Madell and former PEI opposition leader Hon. Peter Bevan-Baker.
    • Partnering with various organizations and platforms such as OnGood, Charity Village, and VolunteerMatch to increase our reach and impact.
    • Being featured in various media outlets such as the Barrie Advance, Barrie Today, and InDurham to raise awareness and recognition of our work and community.

    J2DW is proud of our achievements and milestones over the past 10 years. It is also grateful for the support and collaboration of our members, partners, donors, volunteers, staff, board members, and advisors who have contributed to our success and growth. J2DW invites everyone to join it on our journey to diversity in the workplace. Whether one is an employer, an employee, or a supporter, one can make a difference by becoming a member, a partner, or a donor. One can also listen to our podcast episodes and read our blog posts to learn more about our work and community.

    J2DW’s motto is “Respecting differences ethically, morally, and legally!” We hope to continue living up to this motto for many more years to come.

    For more information about J2DW, please visit our website at www.j2dw.ngo. You can also follow us on social media platforms such as Facebook, Threads, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Mastodon.

    Journey to Diversity Workplaces is a non-profit organization built on improving the business and social environment by championing diversity and the workers within those workplaces. J2DW was formed in 2013 by Founder and CEO Peter V. Tretter with the goal of introducing and maintaining progressive workplace policies. Ideas like higher wages and a four-day workweek are key strategic pillars for J2DW to improve the quality of life and social footprint that businesses have on their employees and communities.

    — 30 —

    Contact:

    J2DW Media Relations
    705-481-1674
    Email us!

Privilege: The Hidden Factor That Determines Your Success

Privilege. It seems that this word is thrown around quite freely these days. Whether it be internet trolls, passionate teenagers, or your average chronically-online individual, they all follow their own interpretation of privilege. But how much does anyone really know about it? Is it a good or a bad position to be in? How do we recognize it in ourselves and others, especially when intersectionality is considered? These are rudimentary questions for any employee and employer looking to become more knowledgeable, educated, and an active participant in the EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) conversation.

What comes to mind when you think of privilege? You’d be lying if you didn’t immediately picture something along the lines of a cisgender, heterosexual, white man, probably with generational wealth, sitting on his yacht and having the time of his life. But privilege comes in all forms and is evident in all our lives, even if it doesn’t follow the clear-cut, textbook definition illustrated in the previous example.

To examine the different facets of privilege in our lives, let us first determine how it operates in our societal structure. Privilege is a position to be had in a society where an individual benefits from their identification with a certain social group or aspect of their identity (Kish-Gephart et al., 2022). This permits them an inherent advantage in society and gives them the liberty to dream big and foresee a reality where these dreams are fulfilled. Some privileges are set from birth, such as race and ethnicity. Still, others, such as socioeconomic status, class, gender expression, and religious identity, can easily oscillate throughout the course of one’s life.

With this in mind, privilege becomes an untenured, ever-changing place in the societal hierarchy that directs your lifestyle and opportunities. You could be a queer person of colour, but your male gender identity and the fact that you are able to access and read this article, presume your class and academic privileges, which subsequently put you in a higher position of power and influence than many others. Understanding that there is no black-and-white nature to this concept will allow employers and employees to become more self-aware, accommodating, and compassionate towards their colleagues and themselves.

In a workplace setting, this topic can manifest itself in the hiring process, working environment, social events, promotions, and thus, one’s experience in the workplace. Classism refers to the subjective treatment of those of a certain social status (Kalita, 2023). One’s socioeconomic status ties in with their class, where those higher up on this hierarchy have access to greater resources and networks and can afford to participate in opportunities that will set them apart from other candidates and colleagues. Those living in remote, lower-income communities are more likely to encounter transportation delays, and might not have the luxury to stay late at work or participate in external social gatherings with colleagues, such as getting drinks at a bar on Friday nights to network, or work lunches every week for team building (Kalita, 2023). How is it that despite only getting paid for the standard 9-5, being an employee means you have to dedicate a part of your personal time to your work and have to pay for it yourself?

Instances of classism can feel mundane and insignificant to a person until they find themselves in a position where every penny starts to hold tenfolds of value. A relatable example would be the popular comedy series named ‘Schitt’s Creek’, where the once-wealthy Rose family loses all their money and finds themselves having to live at a motel in a small town called Schitt’s Creek. The family is instantly struck by the landfill of struggles and inaccessibility– a direct contrast from their comfortable, lavish lifestyle– and finds it difficult to be employed and sustain a basic lifestyle without their greater-than-life networks. Viewers easily digest this true fact– to attain the same opportunities as those with a higher class and socioeconomic status, individuals have to overcome countless external and situational obstacles and fight twice as hard to obtain respect from the world and for employers to consider them invaluable (Kish-Gephart et al., 2022).

By investigating the position of privilege that an individual’s social class puts them in and how easily this position can fluctuate, we are able to understand the importance of equity in the workplace. Regardless of the disadvantages that certain intersectionalities possess in our social structure, we all hold some form of privilege, and the problem arises when we turn a blind eye to it (Kish-Gephart et al., 2022). To be a great employer, one must check the privileges they bear, the assumptions they carry in the workplace, and operate with the intention of equity.

Reference
Kalita, S. M. (2023, July 25). How “professionalism” harms workers of color. Time. https://time.com/charter/6297289/professionalism-racism/
Kish-Gephart, J. J., Moergen, K. J. N., Tilton, J. D., & Gray, B. (2022). Social Class and Work: A Review and Organizing Framework. Journal of Management, 49(1), 509–565. https://doi.org/10.1177/01492063221076822

This article was written by summer student Ilesha Prabhudesai. This article was funded bythe Government of Canada.

How Social Movements Fail to Change the Workplace Culture for Women of Colour

When considering the amount of media chatter we have witnessed in the past decade about social justice, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter, innumerable humanitarian crises, and whatnot, how much of it actually translates to a constructive structural change?

I remember going to school and hearing male teachers mutter about the #MeToo movement and the word feminist being thrown around as a derogatory slang– which, now years later, seems to have completely lost its true meaning– but never did I witness an honest, thoughtful discussion. Following the major spotlight that Black Lives Matter received in 2020 and onwards, I, for one, had hoped to see a more socially conscious workplace environment. Although a social movement not directly tied to the workplace, it aimed to bring light to the socioeconomic disparities faced by Black people and encouraged others to get educated. But often, it all unravels in the same way, where people self-assign a label that aligns with the political climate and throw away their tag when the world isn’t watching.

For instance, my friend, a Black woman, once told me that when she asked her boss if she could apply for a managerial position, she was advised to set her sights elsewhere because she ‘won’t fit the manager look’. It begs the question, if massive social movements can fail to find a stream of reason amidst this sea of chatter, then what can we depend on for long-lasting, structural and environmental change in the workplace?

Let’s look at the statistics. A racialized woman makes an average of 59.3% of the annual salary of a white man in Canada, where Black women make 58.5% of this salary, and South Asian women make 55.1% of it (Women’s earnings – The pay gap: Quick Take, 2023). This discrepancy exists because women are inherently valued less for their labour, and as a result, female-dominant professions and industries observe significantly lower wages than their counterparts. As highly debated as the gender wage gap is, I find it even more appalling that introspective, thorough research around a woman’s struggle with seeking respect and authority in leadership positions is so difficult to uncover and even harder to determine as credible.

A paper on the roads that led four Black women to their leadership positions in an educational workplace environment outlines the hurdles and means of resilience that led them to their positions today (Johnson & Fournillier, 2021). It becomes clear that without irrefutably strong pillars of support in their lives, they would have had little to no chance of dreaming this big (Johnson & Fournillier, 2021). Unfortunately, not everyone has these community-based support systems that can help them rise despite macro, or systemic, aspects of prejudice, which include socioeconomic, financial, academic, and mental health issues, and the micro instances of prejudice, such as the daily encounters. Such factors are the birthing grounds for social movements that challenge these inequities and rally for a more fair sociopolitical structure to navigate.

This is not to say that social movements have had no impact on the structural integrity and policy decisions in our society, but it does aim to point out the urgency of longstanding issues that are primarily underlined in corporate culture yet never acted upon. The manner in which social movements are conducted is also important; does it focus on addressing a policy change, or is it inquisitive about the people who get a seat at the decision-making table? However, even with a clear goal, a widespread reach, and big names to support the cause, the most that the people get is that ‘their voices are being heard’. The governing body of a nation takes what seems like eons to reach a conclusion on minute policy changes, but since the people expect a substantial response, that now feels obsolete in comparison to the grand escalation of the issue in the meantime.

Racialized women deserve to equitably grasp their desired leadership positions, but considering the structures of government and policy present today, this vision appears far-fetched. Social outreach is necessary for policymakers to recognize that the issue can no longer be ignored, and thus, activism is always encouraged. However, as long as the system itself is held together by voices that don’t take BIPOC issues seriously, unfortunately, these women will continue to have to work ten times harder to achieve upward mobility in the workplace, unless their employers operate with a prejudice-free, educated philosophy.

References

Johnson, N. N., & Fournillier, B. J. (2021). Intersectionality and leadership in context: Examining the intricate paths of four black women in educational leadership in the United States. International Journal of Leadership in Education. DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2020.1818132
Women’s earnings – The pay gap: Quick Take. (July 5, 2023). Catalyst. https://www.catalyst.org/research/womens-earnings-the-pay-gap/

This article was written by summer student Ilesha Prabhudesai. This article was funded by the Government of Canada.

Notice of a Special General Meeting

Notice is hear-by given to members of a Special General Meeting to be held between 3 December 2023 – 17 December 2023 to confirm a revision to the Corporation’s bylaws. This meeting will be held exclusively on Election Runner.

A session to review the bylaw revisions will be held at 7 PM ET on Tuesday 5 December 2023 on Google Meet. Register to attend.

Draft J2DW Bylaws by Journey to Diversity Workpl…